Why You Should Buy and Sell Secondhand Fashion in 2018—And the 3 Top Ways to Do It

It might come as a surprise that Vogue editors love consignment shopping. Unlike the snooty “fashion girl” stereotype often seen in movies, we’re cool with used clothing, even better if it’s “past season.” Maybe it comes down to the rarity of scoring a 10-year-old dress that’s still in good condition, or perhaps we just want clothes that won’t show up in every street style slideshow. In an age of knockoffs and nonstop newness, having a vintage (or almost-vintage) Balenciaga or Dries Van Noten look also cements your status as a True Fashion Fan, unfazed by the newest It item. Your taste is so refined, your knowledge so deep, that you’d rather have the old jacket only a die-hard obsessive would recognize. It’s like a badge of honor.

In the past, most women had to scour eBay or local consignment shops for used clothes, but in 2017, the concept has gone cutting-edge. Thanks to new websites and apps, you can hunt for secondhand fashion from your phone—or, if you prefer shopping IRL, there are innovative new brick-and-mortar options, too. It’s also easier than ever to sell your designer goods: Instead of stuffing an old dress in the back of your closet, you can sell it and give someone else the opportunity to love and wear it. That’s where the sustainable element of consignment comes in, too: If you’re concerned with the billions of brand-new clothing items being produced each year (and you most definitely should be), you can lower your carbon footprint by wearing and re-wearing clothes that already exist.

We’re breaking down three of the best new ways to buy and sell secondhand so you can start 2018 with a fresh new shopping strategy. Read about the RealReal’s new store, ThredUp’s convenient clean-out program, and Rebag’s vintage handbag model here.

1) The RealReal just opened a new store in Soho, which offers a range of secondhand goods and in-person authentication and pricing.

Since its launch in 2011, the RealReal—an ultra-curated luxury consignment site with an editorial slant—has grown into a massive company with $173 million in funding. Women love it because it feels like any other e-commerce site, but with the thrill of discovering archival Prada or unworn Chloé boots on deep discount. Take it from us—you can spend hours scrolling. The RealReal makes it easy to sell your designer goods, too, with incentives for higher commissions as you sell more and more pieces (high earners get up to 80 percent). New Yorkers can now get the same experience IRL at the company’s first permanent space on Wooster Street, where you’ll find newish Gucci bags, vintage Cartier watches, a sneaker wall, and a men’s lounge, along with on-site experts to appraise your gently used pieces. “Our customers wanted to speak with our luxury experts in person and see all of the product firsthand,” Rati Levesque, the RealReal’s chief merchant, told us. “Now, if they’re thinking about a handbag, a piece of jewelry, or any item online, they can have it shipped to our SoHo location and meet with an expert there in our store to look at the piece and learn more about it.”

The store also offers authenticity workshops where you can learn how to spot the difference between a real and fake handbag, jewelry cleaning, and handbag refurbishing services—so it’s very much set up for sellers. It’s not just acceptable to walk in with a shopping bag full of designer duds you want to sell, it’s encouraged. Similarly, the RealReal has a partnership with Stella McCartney where you can drop off gently used clothes in the designer’s store and have them shipped to the RealReal for appraisal. It all goes back to the company’s commitment to sustainability: “The store environment is all about extending the life cycle of luxury goods,” Levesque says. “More than 80 billion pieces of clothing are produced worldwide each year. Of these pieces, 75 percent will end up in landfills, meaning we’re using up the planet’s resources at a rate that is unsustainable. The RealReal’s consignment model is a key stimulator of the circular economy—whether you’re buying consignment from us or pieces in the primary market, and then consigning with us, you’re helping decrease the rate at which product ends up in landfills.”

2) ThredUp’s new Luxe division allows customers to shop and sell designer pieces along with lower-priced goods from J.Crew, Zara, and H&M.

What do you do when your closet is full of non-designer pieces you can’t sell at a luxury site or store? In-the-know editors rely on ThredUp, where you can sell (and buy) clothes from J.Crew, Club Monaco, and even fast-fashion chains like Zara and H&M. Since its launch in 2009, it’s been the best option for lower-priced goods, aside from donating them. Recently, though, the company noticed its customers were searching for high-end designer names, too—upwards of 60,000 times per week. So it launched Luxe, a new vertical where you’ll find secondhand Marc Jacobs shoes, Prada party dresses, and Chanel bags. Like other luxury consignment sites, you can send your designer goods to ThredUp in a “clean out kit” to be authenticated and priced, but what’s really great is that you can mix those designer goods with “regular” items, too. I recently filled a bag to the brim with old fast-fashion items and my fancier designer stuff.

That convenience is unparalleled, but it was also a strategic business decision: “We learned that every woman’s closet has a mix of high and low brands, and there just wasn’t a single place to sell everything from Gap to Gucci easily,” James Reinhart, CEO and cofounder of ThredUp, explained. “Our research found that designer items make up only 15 percent of the luxury shopper’s closet, and ThredUp customers wanted a total-closet solution, or a ‘one-stop-seller-shop.’ ”

Some other interesting data Reinhart shared with us: Since ThredUp launched in 2009, not only has the stigma about secondhand shopping faded, but there’s serious demand for it. “Each year, [we] release a resale report examining the state of the industry,” Reinhart says. “In 2017, we found that apparel resale is currently an $18 billion industry, expected to grow to $33 billion in the next four years. And resale is growing faster than [traditional] retail.”

Like the RealReal, ThredUp also combines high-tech algorithms with brick-and-mortar shopping. It has three “smart stores” in California and Texas, and plans to open more in 2018.

3) Rebag just launched an app—and opened a store in Soho—specifically for buying and selling designer bags.

The used handbag market is a little different from used clothing, perhaps because bags feel a little less intimate; you don’t wear them on your body like a dress or pants. The demand for rare vintage bags has existed for a while, too; a 20-year-old Hermès Birkin or Chanel 2.55 is more highly coveted than a brand-new one, and much more expensive, too. Most consignment stores have secondhand bags in stock, but Rebag, which only sells and buys designer handbags, doesn’t consider itself a consignment store at all. That’s mainly because they’ll buy your bag and pay you at the same time—not when your bag sells.

New Yorkers can stop by the company’s new pop-up on West Broadway to buy and sell their bags, but if you’re not in the city, just upload a few photos of your bag on Rebag’s app. They’ll send you a free quote within one business day, and if you accept the offer, they’ll ship your bag to their HQ and pay you immediately. (Traditional consignment stores wait to pay you until your item has sold.) “We developed a unique algorithm that can accurately predict the value of any bag in the world with a very high level of confidence,” Charles Gorra, founder and CEO, says. “We’ll buy your designer bag on the spot and make the whole process a breeze.”

For shoppers concerned with their carbon footprint, selling old handbags and buying vintage ones should be a top priority, considering most bags are made of genuine leather or exotic skins. “Our purpose is to extend the life cycle of luxury bags and to reduce unnecessary waste in the fashion industry,” Gorra says. “The best designer bags are made with the finest materials in the world—they’re made to last. We encourage people to embrace what we call ‘secondary behavior,’ which includes reselling, but also reusing, recycling, donating, and gifting.” The pop-up’s current selection includes gently used bags by Céline, Louis Vuitton, Givenchy, and Balenciaga for under $1,000—run, don’t walk.